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Alaska House Speaker Rep. Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, introduced legislation Monday that would temporarily bar a state corporation from working on a state-sponsored pipeline intended primarily for shipping North Slope natural gas for export.

Teachers at low performing schools are already exempt, but a bill from Rep. Jim Colver, heard in the House Education Committee, would extend that to all teachers. No action was taken. Molly Dischner | Associated Press

The state may be facing a $3.5 billion deficit, but budget talk isn't all that goes on in Juneau. The House has so far passed more ceremonial bills than substantive ones. The Senate Finance Committee spent part of a hearing on a bill to exempt Alaska from Daylight Saving Time. One representative has filed a measure to declare July the state’s peony month.Nathaniel Herz

Sitting in a storage yard in Seattle are $8.2 million worth of steel bridge pilings purchased by the state of Alaska three governors ago. As they age, they continue to cost the state money, including $4,000 a month rent.Pat Forgey

The speaker of the Alaska House plans to introduce legislation next week affecting the state’s natural gas pipeline projects, a major point of contention between Republican House leaders and independent Gov. Bill Walker.Nathaniel Herz

A House subcommittee on Friday removed items related to Medicaid expansion from the Alaska health department's budget, despite the objections of minority Democrats, and called on Gov. Bill Walker to introduce a separate bill on expansion to spur a fuller debate.Becky Bohrer

The House Military and Veterans' Affair Committee on Thursday advanced a bill that would allow the state Division of Motor Vehicles to produce new license plate for veterans who received a Bronze or Silver star, or other meritorious awards related to valor in battle.Associated Press

The Republican-controlled House is poised to strip funding to expand the Medicaid health insurance program from Gov. Bill Walker’s budget, the first shot in what’s expected to be a contentious debate over one of Walker’s central campaign planks.Nathaniel Herz

A House committee Thursday approved a plan to cut the Legislature’s spending by 1.7 percent, well short of the reductions proposed by Gov. Bill Walker to state agency budgets under his control.Nathaniel Herz